Question before DNV: Should landlords be disallowed from prohibiting pets?

06 Feb 2018

In Ontario, there is a provision that disallows the landlords from prohibiting pets. Manitoba doesn’t prohibit landowners but they encourage landowners to allow pets by distributing information through a guide.

By Gagandeep Ghuman

After trying for six months to find an appropriate place to rent in North Vancouver where she could stay with her dog, Red, Jess Nelson finally gave up and decided to buy her own apartment in Lonsdale area of North Vancouver. Finding a rental apartment was extremely difficult because many landlords were unwilling to even consider a dog as there were so many other eligible tenants without a pet wanting to rent the space. “I believe at the time in Vancouver only around 10% of Craigslist listings indicated that they would accept a dog. Because the rental availability rate is so low, as well, my partner and I went to several rental showings only to arrive and see that there were many other renters looking at the same space,” she recalls.

When Nelson started looking to buy her own place, the challenge remained. “As we were looking at more affordable units (older buildings), we found that many stratas also did not allow pets. I would say this restricted us from about 50-60 per cent of the buildings we were interested in. We ended up choosing an apartment that allowed one dog, even though it didn’t have in-suite laundry (something we had really hoped for),” she says.
Pet owners like Nelson may find it encouraging to know the District of North Vancouver council wants to do some advocacy work on this by writing to the province to review the laws on pets being allowed in condos and apartment buildings. It plans to write a letter to the Ministry of Housing to identify gaps and ask for some flexibility on legislation that governs pet dogs in apartment buildings.

“The council can play an advocate role and we can find a time to meet with Bowen Ma and other MLAs and invite them to see if there is something that the province can do I’d suggest we invite both MLAs and maybe there is something the province can do,” said Mayor Richard Walton.

The staff told the council that Coun. Lisa Muri first raised the issue during an OCP workshop in May when some of the affordable rental projects were going to be demolished through rezoning. Muri wanted to know what DNV could do to accommodate the tenants with pets as they tried to find new accommodation. The staff reviewed the tenancy act to see if the DNV had the ability to require landlords to allow pets. It found there wasn’t much that could be done at the municipal level. The discretionary power falls to landlords and strata corporations on allowing or disallowing pets. The province does, however, have the power to regulate the laws around tenancy and the staff suggested that the municipality advocate for those changes in the act.

In Ontario, there is a provision that disallows the landlords from prohibiting pets. Manitoba doesn’t prohibit landlords but they encourage landlords to allow pets by distributing information through a guide.

Coun. Jim Hanson said pets were a part of the family for many people and finding a new place that allowed pets would be a challenge for them. What could make the idea work was the fact vacancy rates in the district were low, he added. Not all councillors had similar views. Councillor Robin Hicks said the district should not get involved in this as this was beyond their jurisdiction. “It should be on the landlord whether he allowed it or not. I agree with you on guide dogs as they can comfort old people. On the negative side, there are a lot of people who are allergic and there are odours and there is noise and there is potential damage and there is biting, but not by all dogs,” he said.

Coun. Hanson said that might be the case in theory but it was time to look at the practical reality. “We are in this acute rental shortage and if we had a vacancy rate of 6 or 7 per cent, it would be a whole different analysis, but with little vacancy, it was appropriate to step in and mandate or you are going to see some individuals who will have to leave because they won’t be able to live here,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nelson says she would like to see legislation that prevents landlords from being able to discriminate against renters based on owning a pet. This needs to be balanced, however, with protections for landlords, including perhaps the ability to resolve issues with renters with pets (damage or noise) through a formal process through the provincial tenancy branch, she says.

The province should change strata legislation to prevent stratas from being able to create bylaws that ban pets. Stratas could impose limitations and introduce penalties to ensure residents are not disrupted or negatively impacted by pets in the building, she adds.

“The province should look to Ontario’s legislation (which prevents landlords from discriminating based on pet ownership) and should conduct a thorough consultation process when designing new legislation to ensure that the needs of both renters and landlords are considered and incorporated in the legislation,” she says.

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1 Comment

Jess Nelson and her partner should be thrilled that by owning ‘Red’, they made the jump to home ownership. A good place for these truly well meaning pet advocates, will be to get involved with their Strata Corporation as a Council member, and deal with the creation of or a modification of a Pet Bylaw. Things like pet quantity, height, weight, Pet waste on Strata Common property will need to be addressed. Then, the Pet Bylaw will need to be consistent with Strata Rules about rentals. I am retired, but worked in residential real estate for over three decades. Quite often, there were more issues with problem owners, than their pets. However, odour was most definitely an issue which was challenging to deal with, especially with certain breeds. Some strata owners with young children, are understandably very concerned about safety of their kids. Damage can be significant. Fortunately, this was the exception. One investor owned house that I helped an owner sell had been rented to very nice people for many years. They had two (nice) cats, but when one was near the end of her days, incontinence was a problem, for a long period of time. The damage resulting made replacing carpet necessary. Easy to fix. However, the bigger issue was that beneath the carpets, the sub floor was ruined because of this medical issue of the cat. Smell impossible to clean. Approx. 50% of the sub floor had to be removed and replaced. Very expensive. Yes, this was an unusual case, but landlords will I’m sure, want to weigh the pros and cons. I’m not sure I want society to take away some of my rights that I enjoy because of my property ownership, without society wanting to accept the responsibility for damage. Going to court or some tribunal can be expensive and often, a judgement is impossible to collect.